


corona borealis

by askmeaboutmyoctopustheory



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bottom Bucky Barnes, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Dancing, Eventual Smut, First Time, Friends to Lovers, Gentle Sex, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Road Trips, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Top Sam Wilson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 06:14:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21266384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/askmeaboutmyoctopustheory/pseuds/askmeaboutmyoctopustheory
Summary: They needed a break, time to figure out the life they were supposed to lead from there on out.They knew it included each other. Just to what extent?Grand canyon! Vegas! Disney! Oh my!





	corona borealis

**Author's Note:**

> alright i don't know where this came from but just chalk it up to needing more sambucky road trip fics alright
> 
> this is also my "goodbye fanfic world for november" because i'm doing NaNoWriMo and might be AWOL
> 
> i'll try and be not (as) AWOL on my twitter so follow me there @_AMAMOT

Bucky held it together until he and Sam got to the SHIELD-issue apartment they had been assigned until the new Avengers had a base. They had spent enough time together in the Soul realm and Sam could tell the man’s emotions were frayed. He collapsed on the couch in the living room and curled into ball that shouldn’t be possible for a man of his breadth. Sam set the shield down gently against the wall and casually sat by Bucky’s head. He stroked the long brunet locks absently and listened to the ragged breaths until Bucky finally just let the tears fall onto the sofa. Natalia was gone, Steve-his Steve- was gone, Stark was gone and Bucky hadn’t gotten to reconcile, oh god he-

“Wanna go out West?” Sam’s calm and unobtrusive voice cut into his spiraling thoughts. 

“Huh?” 

“West. Like. Go out to, I dunno. Burning man. Golden gate bridge.”

“Always wanted to see the Grand Canyon.” Bucky said quietly.

He felt Sam nod. “Probably one of the few things that hasn’t changed much in your lifetime.”

“Desert’s warm.” Bucky said, voice shaking less but still quiet. “Don’t we gotta-”   
  
“We don’t have to do anything yet. I’m Captain America I can do what I want.”   
  
Bucky laughed a little bitterly. “Must be in the job description. When do you wanna leave?”   
  
When Sam went over to Bucky’s room the next morning with his small duffel of clothes for the indefinite trip they had (not)planned, he found Bucky in the bathroom running his hands through the long strands of his hair. 

“I wanna cut it.” He said when he saw Sam’s reflection in the mirror. “Don’t they got places to donate hair now?”   
  
Sam was just looking at him softly. “Yeah. They do. Want me to help you cut it?”   
  
“I think I remember how I use’t do it” Bucky picked up a pair of scissors and gestured with them to his clippers. “Can you help me with findin’ a place to donate it?”

Sam nodded and left to go rifle around the apartment for a plastic bag and an envelope. He looked up a hair donation service on his phone and copied down the address before heading back to the bathroom. Bucky’s hair was haphazardly shorn off and he looked sheepish.

“Ok maybe I do need a hand.” He looked at Sam who just chuckled and took the scissors from him. “Thanks.”   
  
“Can’t be runnin’ around with someone lookin’ wack.” Sam said as he snipped at the ponytails that Bucky had put all over his head. 

When it was a good length to start the clippers, Sam started cleaning the sides and fluffing the top. Bucky closed his eyes and leaned into the warm vibration of the clippers a bit until Sam touched his cheek a bit and told him he was done.

Bucky leaned forward to admire himself in the mirror, tilting his neck back and forth to admire his jawline. “Still got it” He said softly, cracking a smile at Sam.

“Yeah. You do.” Sam smiled back but looked down to disassemble the clippers. They had been dancing around some weird more-than-friendship for a while now. Five years, even in the fucked up world of the soul realm, was a long time. “You ready for a break?”   
  
Their break started with a flight to Arizona on a quinjet and a drive to the cabin they were staying at on the Grand Canyon’s North rim. Bucky dozed off in the car and woke up with the Arizona sun beating down as Sam slowed to pull into the park gates.    
  
“This side’s the less crowded side.” He told Bucky as he flashed his Avengers card at the ranger and the idiot saluted. “Figured we’d both enjoy it more.”

Sam was like that. He did things that he knew Bucky would prefer but would never ask for, and framed it as a mutual preference. He knew Bucky would rather not (ever) spend the night tent camping on the Arizona clay, so they had been offered a furnished cabin. Sam was already milking the Captain America thing and Bucky had to admit that he was glad. 

“Ain’ the Disney bloke’s place over this way too?” Bucky asked sleepily.   
  
“Christ sometimes I really do forget you’re old as shit.” Sam laughed. “Yeah we can go to DisneyLand.”   
  
Bucky grinned and looked around the little grove of trees where Sam had parked. There was a small path that broke out into a clearing with a small log cabin. And just beyond the cabin-

“Woah.” Bucky exhaled.

“Yeah.” Sam agreed.

“Good thing neither of us are sleepwalkers.” Bucky joked lightly, seeing the canyon rim not 50 steps from their cabin door.

“Yeah.” Sam breathed out, still looking at the view before them. 

Bucky leaned into him a bit and they just stood for several moments. Thanos’ army could’ve come up right behind them and they wouldn’t have noticed. It wasn’t until Bucky’s stomach let out a growl that they broke apart.

“Super soldier metabolism ruins another moment.” Sam teased as he scooped up both of their bags and went to the house. “They said this place would be stocked, hope it’s not MREs.”   
  
Bucky thought to himself that he would eat Dugan’s D-rations that were still in the Smithsonian every day he was here if he had to. It was incredible. He tore his eyes away after snapping a few pictures. Sam was inside fixing dinner with some of the pre-stocked things that the park had apparently sent for them. Again, Bucky was personally grateful that Sam had no qualms about playing his Avengers card. 

“Figured spaghetti with lean ground beef would fill you up?” Sam asked, with only Bucky’s stomach grumbling again in return.

Both men laughed and Bucky pulled them both beer from the fridge. They sat and ate on the small couch in companionable silence. Once Bucky’s metabolism was no longer vocal, they began to explore the cabin and unpack. Bucky was putting his extensive face wash and moisturizer routine in the small bathroom when he heard Sam.

“Hey Buck do you wanna draw straws for the bed?” he asked from the bedroom.

Bucky strode into the bedroom and saw Sam unpacking his clothes into the small dresser. There was a wooden king sized bed made out of the same sturdy wood as the rest of the cabin and furniture. 

“Why?” Bucky asked. “It’s huge.”

“Suit yourself but i’m pushing you off if you snore.” Sam replied. 

Bucky ended up dozing off under the stars on the sun-warmed ground as he tracked the constellations. He’d do this with Steve on their balcony before Brooklyn was light-polluted. Steve had known all the stars from all the reading he did. If he thought hard enough, Bucky could remember the stories. Bucky didn’t even startle too badly when Sam shook him awake. He gave one last glimpse to Corona Borealis before following Sam inside and tucking himself into bed. 

\----

_ Corona Austrails, The Boomerang: A weapon, wielded against wrongdoers _

_ Coronoa Borealis, The Northern Crown: For the once-deserted princess of Crete, gone on to happily marry. _

\-----

Bucky was driving along Route 66, listening to Taylor Swift with a pair of glittery gas station sunglasses on. Sam was laughing at him from the passenger seat. They had spent a week at the Grand Canyon, hiking, relaxing, stargazing. Bucky stopped feeling embarrassed after the second day he woke up curled in Sam’s arms. They were both solitary, touch-starved people. He liked it.

“You ever think you’d be goin to Vegas?” Sam asked him after a while, grinning widely. 

“Nah.” Bucky pulled his hand in from where it was resting out the window to run the metal fingers through his hair. “Casinos had barely started goin’ up when I came of age. No reason for me to come way out here.”

“Well you know about what happens in Vegas?” Sam teased him, laughing at the small frown lines that broke out. “Don’t worry about it.”   
  


He laughed at Bucky more when the former assassin let out a series of expletives in several languages as he navigated the car off the highway to the Strip. A cabin on the Grand Canyon was about as opposite as you can get to the Las Vegas Strip. Sam only worried a tiny bit about the neon lights and pushy crowds and how Bucky might feel but he let himself be proven wrong when Bucky announced that he was heading to the pool as soon as they were checked into their hotel.

“Did you bring a swimsuit?” He asked, looking at the backpack Bucky had brought.    
  
“No but there’s shops here.”   
  
Sam tilted his head in agreement. His eyes only drifted to the metal arm for a fraction of a second before Bucky grinned and pulled a small disc out of his pack. He placed it on the underside of his arm and it shifted and changed until it was the same color as the rest of his natural flesh. The scars on his shoulder were even blended into a tattoo on the fake skin-like surface of the vibranium.

“Damn.”   
  
Bucky was grinning. “Shuri designed it. Thought I might want to be incognito once and awhile.” He put on his horrible rhinestoned glasses. “Nobody’s gonna expect the winter soldier to be at the Luxor’s pool in Paris Hilton sunglasses.” And he strode out of the room.

“Wait how do you know who Paris Hilton is???” Sam called into an empty room.

Sam just chuckled to himself and shook his head in amusement. He thought about flipping through the endless television channels or taking advantage of the plush bed but in the end he decided the Bucky had had the right idea. 

“I’ll have a margarita.” he told the bartender at the poolside bar, seeing Bucky sipping a Corona on a lounger deep in discussion with an elderly woman.

“Oh there he is now!” Sam heard Bucky say as he approached. 

The older lady looked up at him and smiled with her wrinkled face. Bucky grinned at him too and Sam took in the full visual of the horridly patterned and outrageously short swim trunks that Bucky had found and his sunglasses.

“We’ve got big plans tonight!” Bucky told her before taking Sam’s arm and walking to another cabana. 

“We do?” Sam didn’t know of any plans other than probably ordering too-expensive drinks and room service. 

“Sure do, baby.” He said with a wink before setting his drink down and sauntering over to lower himself into the pool.

“Don’t call me baby.” Sam shot back, not watching the way Bucky’s thighs stretched the horrible fabric.

It was Bucky shaking Sam awake this time as the sun was falling in the Nevada sky and they were still sprawled out under the pool cabana.

“Back to life, Sleeping Beauty.” He teased as Sam grumbled. “I made plans for us tonight.” He saw the look on Sam’s face. “If that’s ok.”   
  
“Yeah, what are they?”   
  
Bucky suddenly looked embarrassed and looked down as they waited for the elevator. “I uh. Found a place that does swing dance nights…”   
  
“Oh god I’m gonna be your new Steve?” Sam groaned good-naturedly. He had heard too many stories of pre-war Steve being dragged out dancing but staying on the sidelines all evening. “I can dance better than him, but not swing.”   
  
“I can teach ya.” Bucky said softly. 

“In one night?”   
  
“If you wanna learn.” 

They looked at each other searchingly in the eyes for a moment, interrupted by the elevator ding and the spell was broken. 

“I don’t have like… nice clothes.” Sam realized as he looked into his duffel bag. Swing dancing seemed like something you dressed nicely for. 

“I got some stuff sent over when I was uh. At the mall earlier.” Bucky said, his ears a bit pink. 

Sam had an expensive-looking shopping bag tossed onto his bed and he looked into it to see simple slacks and a shirt. Bucky was looking over at him almost like he was nervous.

“Uh. Thanks Buck.” Sam said uncertainty. That seemed to be the right thing to relieve the odd tension between Bucky’s eyes. “When does the dancin’ start?”   
  
“At 8.”   
  
“You gonna take three hours to get ready?”

Sam laughed and avoided a crumpled receipt that Bucky threw towards him. “No, idiot. We’re going to dinner beforehand.”

Sam busied himself with the tags and folds of his new clothes until Bucky disappered into the bathroom and the shower started. Sam sighed deeply. This felt like a date. Was it a date? Sam didn’t know the whole time they were eating at a nice little place with a view of the desert sunset.

Their uber took them a little ways off the strip to a tavern that had a small jazz combo that was warming up on the stage. Bucky’s eyes shone as he took in the couples already doing some dance steps on the floor. Sam was in awe of the way the couples moved and dipped and swayed together and, yeah he needed a few drinks for this.

“You want somethin’ to drink?” He asked Bucky.

“Jus’ a whiskey for me.” 

His eyes were bright and his Brooklyn drawl slipped through as he shot Sam a wink before leaning over the rail that separated the bar area from the dance floor. Sam felt simultaneously like Steve, watching his best friend in his element and like the thousands of girls who had been charmed by the Enigmatic Bucky Barnes, wooed and flustered. Bucky, who was effortlessly conversing with a pretty girl who was where Sam had been standing a moment ago. She was wearing pin curls and a full skirt. Bucky had on suspenders and a driving hat. They looked almost like time travelers.

“Sam! This is Max! She’s a local.”   
  
“Max?”   
  
The girl laughed with teeth peeking from her painted lips. “It’s short for Maxine. How long you boys in town?”

Sam and Bucky looked at each other for a moment before shrugging. 

“Not really sure.” Sam said. “Just kinda goin’ with the wind, but probably just a couple of days.”

“We’re just gonna keep goin’ west.” Bucky added.

“Well I’ll just have to show you boys a  _ real _ Vegas night.” Her eyes twinkled wickedly as she grinned. “You guys gonna dance?”   
  
“He can.” Sam said, lifting his drink to Bucky. “Get a few more drinks in me and we’ll talk.”

The other two laughed and stepped out onto the dance floor. After just a few awkward steps they fell into a smooth rhythm of dipping and twirling along to the swing music coming from the band. Sam downed his first drink and was nursing his second when Bucky came over, grinning and a flush on his cheeks from exertion.

“You havin’ fun?” Sam asked. 

“Yeah. Man, I miss dancin’.” 

“You look good.”

Bucky’s face flushed a bit more and he downed the rest of his whiskey. “I didn’t bring my fella here for him to be on the sidelines all night though.”

Sam felt his own skin grow hot and he quirked an eyebrow. “Oh?”   
  
“Yeah. They’re gonna play some slower stuff if you wanna dance.”   
  
“Yeah just gotta find someone to dance with me.” Sam set their empty glasses on a passing tray.

“Uh me?” Bucky stammered a bit. “Unless you-”   
  
“-No I just figured-”   
  
They were both laughing a second later.

“Sam will you dance with me?”

Sam ducked his head and nodded, suddenly bashful despite all of their established camaraderie. Bucky held him close and pushed him in time to the music until they were properly dancing. The song flowed into the next and at some point they broke for more drinks and Max led them to another speakeasy style bar. Sam was feeling pleasantly buzzed and happy when they finally flopped to sleep on the massive beds in their hotel room. 

“Thanks Buck.” Sam said as he rolled into the clean and soft sheets. “I had fun tonight.

“‘S nothing.” Bucky said sleepily. 

Sam’s dry throat and need to pee woke him up in the wee hours of the morning, when the desert was asleep but the Vegas night raged on below. He drank a few cups of water and looked out on the Strip. He was lost in thought when he heard a whine from the bed behind him.

Sam turned and saw Bucky thrashing in his sleep, whining and panting hard. He had been around Bucky enough to know about his nightmares, it wasn’t like Sam didn’t have his own. He crawled into the bed next to Bucky without a second thought, putting a steady hand on his head and rubbing his neck softly. Bucky’s cries and movements died down, eventually with his breathing returning to it’s normal sleeping rhythm. Sam continued stroking small circles with his thumb on Bucky’s arm, not realizing that he was slipping back into sleep as well. 

Bucky nuzzled into the body that his face was buried in when he woke up, sleepy brain still enjoying the warmth and not catching up to logical brain yet. Sam’s arms held him tight and they both smelled a bit like a hangover. Bucky’s metabolism had taken care of most of the liquor he drank, but he would bet a bit of money that Sam would be wanting some greasy breakfast. 

“Sammy?” He nudged the body ensnaring his own until Sam started stirring. “Ohhh Saaaaam” He singsonged until he got a grunt in response. “You wanna go to breakfast?? There’s a real nice greasy spoon downstairs?”

Sam grunted again and Bucky laughed before stumbling out of bed and throwing the curtains open. His vocalizations increased as they ate enough potatoes and eggs to feed a small army, until they were finally stuffed and Sam’s hangover was no longer paining him.

“So? You wanna get out of….here?” He asked, gesturing around them, hoping Bucky understood that he was good to get out of Vegas.

“Yeah.” Bucky smiled softly. “Disney?”   
  
“Yeah.” Sam smiled back at him. “There’ve been a lot of movies since  _ Snow White _ you know?”   
  
Bucky just shoved him and they dissolved into easy laughter. With one last glance at the pyramid hotel an hour later, they were on the road again. 

Bucky, it turned out, had seen a lot of the newer Disney movies, something that Sam suspected the Princess Shuri had a hand in. His hungover and sun-beaten brain was regaled with the soundtracks to all of the Disney classics for the next 4 hours. He seemed particularly fond of the  _ Tarzan _ soundtrack. Sam didn’t think he ever wanted to hear another tale as old as time by the time he pulled into the Disney resort parking lot. 

“You ready old man?” He teased Bucky. “We can get you a button that says it’s your first visit to the park.”   
  
He had been teasing but Bucky’s eyes lit up and Sam made a mental note to stop by guest services before they went into the park for that button. Their room here was as luxurious as the one in Vegas, but much larger and with a singular huge bed. Both men looked at each other for a split second before dumping their bags and quickly changing; then heading out as quickly as they had come. Bucky was bouncing on his toes as they waited at the gates to the park.

“What ride first?” Sam asked, knowing Bucky wouldn’t have the slightest clue. True enough, he blanched at the question. “Don’t worry Buck. I gotchu.”

They rode the Matterhorn six times until Sam’s back eventually started to ache from the ancient rollercoaster. With Bucky towing him behind, they made their way to the carousel for a low-impact ride before the fireworks. Sam positioned his phone to take a selfie of them astride their white horses right as the movement jolted them forward and the horses started rising methodically. They were both laughing and the picture was a bit blurry and it was perfect. 

The Anaheim evening air was comfortable around them as Bucky ate a turkey leg and Sam sipped on a lemonade waiting for the fireworks to start in front of the castle. Here, surrounded by people and explosions, Bucky felt safe with Sam.

“I’m glad we did this.” He said suddenly, looking at Sam with his wide grey eyes. “The world doesn’t need Captain America just yet. But I needed Sam Wilson.”   
  
Every cliche rang out in Sam’s mind as he pulled Bucky in for a searing kiss and the Fantasmic fireworks show shot off behind them. Bucky returned his heat and they kissed there, in front of Sleeping Beauty’s castle for several minutes before breaking apart and just hovering with their faces close for a few minutes. They were just themselves here, in the masses of happy people at Disneyland. They weren’t Captain America or the Winter Soldier or anyone else but Sam and Bucky.

“You wanna-”   
  
“Yes” Bucky cut Sam off with a kiss. “Please, we can come back here every day for a month for all I care. Actually that sounds great but please just.” He swallowed hard and a small tear leaked out his eye. “Take me home.”   
  
Bucky’s lips found Sam’s again and he hastily pulled them up and towards their resort at the outskirts of the park. It was like a dam had broken and they couldn’t be more than a few inches from the other, touching and kissing and just feeling into the other’s space. When they finally shut the door of their hotel room behind them, Sam took a deep breath before stepping into Bucky’s space.

“What do you want from me, Buck?” He asked gently, taking the vibranium arm into his own hand and kissing the metal knuckles. “This is all for you tonight.”

Bucky met him with a step, closing the space between them and pulling Sam closer with his other hand tangled in his shirt. “Just take me to bed, I’ll let you know if I don’t want something.”   
  
Sam seemed to hesitate, searching Bucky’s face for a moment before giving in and kissing him again, walking them backwards until they tumbled onto the bed. Bucky looked beautiful flopped beneath him and blushing and Sam told him so.   
  
“Oh Jesus.” Bucky looked to the side with a pink face as Sam stroked down his jawline to the collar of his shirt, pulling it aside to suck on his neck and collarbone. “I need- Wanna feel-” His hands pulled at the lower hem of Sam’s shirt.

Sam pulled off his t-shirt, seeing that Bucky sat up and did the same when he looked back at him. He pressed their sun-hot bodies together, feeling his skin light up like a live wire at the contact between them. Bucky’s hands were roaming all over his back, onto his ass, trying to grip at his buzzed hair. Sam finally pulled back and pressed his forehead into Bucky’s collarbone. 

“God, you’re so- I just.” Sam stumbled over his words for a moment before falling silent. “I’m glad we did… all this.”   
  
Bucky tilted Sam’s head up to look him in the eyes with a small smile. “Me too. Can we take our pants off now?”   
  
“Jesus, Buck.” Sam scrambled with his own jeans and Bucky lifted his hips to help him take his own off. “You want this or somethin?” Been thinkin’ about it?”   
  
“Yeah.” Bucky admitted with a blush, not even trying to hide the arch in his back as Sam ground their groins together in their boxer-briefs. 

Their lips met again and their tongues explored into each other’s mouths as their arousal grew, evidenced by the tenting fabric that was between them. Bucky was the first to reach his flesh-and-blood hand between them and hover it above Sam’s crotch.

“Is this…”   
  
“If you want to, baby.” Sam’s voice was lower and huskier than Bucky had heard before.

“Oh so you can call  _ me _ baby?” Bucky grinned against Sam’s lips as he dipped his hand into his underwear and wrapped his hand around the hard length within. 

“Yeah. If you let me.” Sam brushed a thumb along Bucky’s own underwear waistband before dipping his hand behind to cup his ass.

Bucky gasped and stilled as soon as Sam’s fingers slipped down the cleft of his ass, making a high pitched whine as he pressed against the fingers exploring lower.

“Oh fuck, please?” He looked between them where they were kneeling on the bed, both eager and needy. “I want you to fuck me. If you want to.”

Sam kissed him soft and slow, more deliberate than he had yet. “Of course I want to.”   
  
Neither of them had packed lube but the hotel lotion was good enough for a supersoldier’s healing factor so Sam got to work with his fingers probing into Bucky. His first finger brought out a blissful grin that he had never seen or imagined seeing on Bucky’s face, the second and third only adding more porn-worthy expressions to his mental image bank.

“You ready hon?” Sam asked, making small circles inside Bucky with his three fingers.

“Yes. Yes please.” Bucky was nearly thrashing and begging. Sam had stroked against his prostate a few times while he was fingering him and he needed more. He reached to grab his thighs and pull them back to fully display himself. “Any minute now, Wilson.”   
  
“Man, shut the hell up.” Sam said with no heat behind it as he rubbed some of the lotion on his neglected cock that had been making Bucky’s mouth water. 

Bucky felt the blunt head breach into him and he exhaled through the stretch and into the pleasure that came from being filled. His eyes fluttered shut and his hands reached for Sam’s as they moved together to a panting and needy state.

“You’re so- Fuckin’- unnhh” Sam panted, pushing his cock hard against Bucky’s prostate. “You feel so good, ‘m not gonna last long.”   
  
“Me neither sweetheart.” Bucky said, choking out the words as his feet dug in to drive his hips upward. “Just let go. I need you.”   
  


They came within a few moments of each other, too lost in their own pleasure to capture the other’s face into memory. Sam slid himself out of Bucky as he whined at the emptiness, padding off to the bathroom to get a cloth to clean themselves off with.

“Is this where you wanted this trip to go?” Bucky asked him once he was cradled against Sam’s chest in the peaceful darkness of their room.

“I’ve wanted this to go this way for a while.” Sam said softly against Bucky’s hair. 

“Me too.” Bucky said softly, pushing himself backwards into Sam’s space. 

“Still gonna make you ride space mountain tomorrow.”


End file.
